Monday, August 6, 2012

Fired for breast cancer

It appears that Kathleen Mason worked for the most unreasonable and insensitive bunch of people around. She was the CEO of Tuesday Morning, a Dallas based retailer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in January and February and was fired over the phone (over the phone - really?) three months later even though she had insisted that her diagnosis and treatment would not interfere with her ability to do her job.

Now I don't know all the facts of her diagnosis and treatment - what protocol she had - surgery, chemo, radiation or what. It is clearly her decision on being able to cope with treatment and her job at the same time. Many women work through treatment.

She also had the job for 12 years and the excuse was that sales have been down for recent years. If sales were down maybe they could have asked her for a plan of action to correct that but you don't fire a 12 year executive with out advance warning over the phone. Stupid and discriminatory.

And they want to keep her as a consultant for the next 10 years - meaning they still value her opinion - so why did they fire her? Did the word cancer scare them? Or were they just stupid as now they have lost a good employee, destroyed their reputation (I would boycott them if they were local), and opened themselves up to a lawsuit. Maybe not stupid, just chicken. And dumb.

4 comments:

tracy.rose@healthline.com said...

Hi Caroline,

Healthline editors recently published the final list of their favorite Breast Cancer blogs and your blog made the list. You can find the complete list at: http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-breast-cancer-blogs (in no particular order). We encourage you to share your status as one of the best blogs on the web with your friends, family, & followers.

We also created a set of badges you can easily embed on your site & anywhere else you see fit:

http://www.healthline.com/health/breast-cancer-badges

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Congrats & continue the great work!

Warm Regards,
Tracy

tracy.rose@healthline.com said...

Hi Caroline,

Healthline recently finished researching the best Apps for breast cancer patients and we were wondering if you would consider sharing the link with your network of followers. You can find the complete list at: http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/top-breast-cancer-iphone-android-apps

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Warm Regards,
Tracy

tracy.rose@healthline.com said...

Hi Caroline,

Breast cancer awareness month is almost over!

Healthline recently finished compiling its list of the best breast cancer awareness videos of 2012. You can view the list at http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-videos-breast-cancer

We would love if you could help spread awareness by sharing these amazing videos with your followers, friends, and subscribers.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Warm Regards,
Tracy

tracy.rose@healthline.com said...

Hi Caroline,

Healthline recently kicked off its second annual "Best Health Blog of 2012" contest & our editors have nominated Caroline’s Breast Cancer Blog. You can find your blog at http://www.healthline.com/health/best-health-blogs-contest by searching or sorting.

We encourage you to promote the contest amongst your readers & friends. The blog with the most votes on February 15, 2013 at 11:59 pm will win $1000, 2nd place wins $100 and 3rd place nabs $50.

You can also add a 'vote for me' badge to your site by going to: http://www.healthline.com/health/contest-badges, and clicking 'embed.'

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Warm Regards,

Tracy

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